“I Can’t Do All This—This Is Nuts!”: An Ethnographic Account of the Challenges Posed by Vajrayāna Deity Yoga in a Western Context

Sixteen Western Vajrayāna Buddhist practitioners described contextual, epistemic, ethical, personal, practical, religious, and socio-cultural factors that challenged their ability to learn and engage in deity yoga, along with strategies they used to overcome those challenges. These factors have been largely overlooked by empirical meditation research, yet their relevance to practice efficacy, outcomes, and adverse experiences is now recognized. The testimonies also reveal that the cross-cultural transmission of Vajrayāna Buddhism involves adaptation and negotiation of practice approaches and environments to fit lay practitioners' needs, while meaning is synthesized from experiences with teachers, teachings, and tantric practice.

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Abstract

This article provides an in-depth exploration of the contextual, epistemic, ethical, personal, practical, religious, and socio-cultural factors that sixteen Western practitioners of Vajrayāna Buddhism highlighted as having particularly challenged their ability to learn and engage in deity yoga, including what strategies they may have adopted in attempting to overcome their impact. While these have been largely overlooked by empirical research on meditation, their pertinence to understanding practice efficacy and outcome, as well as the phenomenological unfolding of particularly adverse practice-related experiences, have recently been recognized alongside the prevalence of the latter. In addition, these practitioner testimonies shed light on how the cross-cultural transmission of Vajrayāna Buddhism involves a process in which practice approaches and environments are undergoing adaptation and negotiation in light of the needs and lifestyles of lay practitioners, while meaning is being synthesized through their responses to the experiences that unfold not only from their exposure to teachers and their teachings but also from their engagement in tantric practice.